Alstom, Siemens among $500 million project hopefuls

Two major European bidders are among the companies that have submitted offers to construct a $500 million energy block at the Lagisza power plant. After all the offers were opened yesterday Jan Kurp, president of Poludniowy Koncern Energetyczny (PKE), the company overseeing the bid, commented, "Since it's a huge project we expected the participation of some European potentates. We received offers from Alstom and Siemens." The various offers will now undergo a process of scrutiny, after which PKE will prepare a detailed business plan for the project. PKE is likely to obtain the ne cessary financial backing only if it can guarantee a buyer for the energy produced by the block. In the long term the problem may be resolved by PKE taking over distribution companies that would undertake to accept energy from the new block. However, the idea of consolidation between energy producers and distributors does not enjoy much support in the Treasury and is strongly opposed by the Economy Ministry. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7) A.Z.